Sweet Sixteen

Oh how the years have flown. My little girl is now...sixteen!...Wow! How did that happen so quickly??

Showing off her birthday pie...
We aren't cake people, so for birthdays and special celebrations my mom's apple pie is always demanded...uhh...I mean requested.;-)

I upped the anti a little bit this year and made a prime rib, baked potatoes and a salad for all of us. I've gotten quite good at making them. So far I've only ever turned one of them into a very expensive roast.

For her birthday, we loaded up the kiddo and drove to the Black Hills for a shopping spree...
I can't believe how much I have missed my girl. We had so much fun shopping together. That is just one of the oodles of things we love to do together and we have both missed it. I think my girl just needs to move out to Colorado with me! I miss her!!!!!!!!

It was Saturday before I got left out of Grand Junction. Friday, I just had too many fires to put out at the office before leaving for a week. Wow! I forgot what having a job was like.

I got lucky, the weather was not good and about Denver I started running into this...
It sure was pretty. But I only say that because the roads were in relatively good shape.

The farther east I drove the deeper the snow got...
Out on the plains around Julesburg the snow was deep enough and the cold bitter enough that people had put feed out for their cattle. A lot of people have not sold calves yet and a bitter, cold snap like this sure can knock the weight off of them. Which of course means a lot less $$ for the rancher.

We only got a skiff of snow around home and that is gone now. I was hoping to get beautiful fall photos while being home, but that isn't going to happen. Almost none of the trees had even started to change colors yet and this bitter freeze killed any chance of them doing so now. Most of the leaves have fallen off of the trees in a huge, withered, green mass.

So the rest of the week will be trying to get horses moved around...as the weather permits. Lots to do and it doesn't look like the weather is going to make things easy. Gotta love the Dakotas!

I wanted to tell you all how much your kind and supportive comments about Queenie mean to me. I had a lot of hours behind the wheel this weekend and spent a lot of time thinking about all of the wonderful horses that have graced my life. But that is another post...or two...maybe three.